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Chung Dha Lam

Digital mic flag

Most of the time to get great audio at event you need to use a hand mic to get cleaner audio by putting the mic closer to the subject but just a mic is quite boring. But following the new trend there are digital flags which are more interesting than just a logo on the side of a mic and have it animated. So I made a simple one using few simple things I already had around

But the animation on the phone is made with after effects known as a logo reveal, ident or indent. But to keep it looking around you need to up the mx player app which has a loop function to keep the video looping around. So for around 7 bucks you can build the holder and the rest if pretty much your own creativity.

Power your Canon DSLR 6+ hours for less than $55

In this video I am showing you how to power your Canon DSLR for more than 6 hours for less than $55 battery included. 6hours of battery is enough really for any event. Plus the bit extra is that the battery now is outside the camera and its a battery which is build for film cameras, so these batteries has less problems with overheating. Another thing is that the power indicator actually works and even would go into reds when the battery is low. However the low on these batteries still can film quite long with it in red before its really depleted.

Another thing that is great about this setup is that the battery is outside of the camera. As most DSLR has issues with heating up as their batteries aren't really made for filming and using that much power the batteries heats up after a full hour of filming back to back or if you are filming in a hot area. But with this setup the battery first is outside the camera and enable to cool down better, but also these large Sony NP-F970 are build for large ENG cameras and can handle the power output much better without getting hot.

There are even multiple ways you can this setup. Here on top is a simple setup if you want to film in a more lightweight setup. As this would not require any rigging and just directly mount it onto the hotshoe mount of your camera. For like simple timelapse this would be an ideal setup as you mostly be having the camera on a tripod and don't really need anything extra. Yet the extra power enables you to take timelapse of a longer period without having to switch your battery.

The other setup would to mount it onto your shoulder via a 15mm rail block clamp like the image above. If you are lucky the rail block can sometime be found around 10 bucks but often also be sold around 20bucks. But another affordable option would be using the rail block from the affordable
$15 matte box.The main part what is needed is the
NP-F970 battery plate this is where the battery will be placed to power your camera. I have chosen this version as it have few extra quirks making it better than other one but also being quite affordable. This one actually made to power a lilliput monitor but it also can be used to power LED lights and more. The great thing about this one is that there is a lock, so the battery would not fall out easily.

Another plus is that there are allot of mounts on this battery plate, from plain veclro to attach to anything to a small L bracket seen on the shoulder rig setup above, but also standard 1/4" scew hole giving you tons of option to mount it anywhere you want.
Then you have the DC coupler or the Dummy battery. The one I am using is for a Canon EOS 550D/T2i but can also be used for 600d, 650D and 700d. But there are other DC couplers you can get for other camera, but the important thing is that it should have the DC female plug end to plug the battery plate cable into.

And ofcourse to power it all you would need a battery. These NP-F970 are currently quite affordable and able to pick up some nice 6600mAh for around 20bucks. But great thing is most lights and monitors use these batteries, so standardising everything to use the same battery is all the better. Then having tons of different kinds of batteries in your bag. Parts list:$14 -SONY F970 Battery Plate adapter$20 - Sony NP-F970 battery 6600mAh

Power your Canon DSLR 6+ hours for less than $55

Power your Canon DSLR 6+ hours for less than $55

In this video I am showing you how to power your Canon DSLR for more than 6 hours for less than $55 battery included. 6hours of battery is enough really for any event. Plus the bit extra is that the battery now is outside the camera and its a battery which is build for film cameras, so these batteries has less problems with overheating. Another thing is that the power indicator actually works and even would go into reds when the battery is low. However the low on these batteries still can film quite long with it in red before its really depleted.

Another thing that is great about this setup is that the battery is outside of the camera. As most DSLR has issues with heating up as their batteries aren't really made for filming and using that much power the batteries heats up after a full hour of filming back to back or if you are filming in a hot area. But with this setup the battery first is outside the camera and enable to cool down better, but also these large Sony NP-F970 are build for large ENG cameras and can handle the power output much better without getting hot.

There are even multiple ways you can this setup. Here on top is a simple setup if you want to film in a more lightweight setup. As this would not require any rigging and just directly mount it onto the hotshoe mount of your camera. For like simple timelapse this would be an ideal setup as you mostly be having the camera on a tripod and don't really need anything extra. Yet the extra power enables you to take timelapse of a longer period without having to switch your battery.

The other setup would to mount it onto your shoulder via a 15mm rail block clamp like the image above. If you are lucky the rail block can sometime be found around 10 bucks but often also be sold around 20bucks. But another affordable option would be using the rail block from the affordable
$15 matte box.The main part what is needed is the
NP-F970 battery plate this is where the battery will be placed to power your camera. I have chosen this version as it have few extra quirks making it better than other one but also being quite affordable. This one actually made to power a lilliput monitor but it also can be used to power LED lights and more. The great thing about this one is that there is a lock, so the battery would not fall out easily.

Another plus is that there are allot of mounts on this battery plate, from plain veclro to attach to anything to a small L bracket seen on the shoulder rig setup above, but also standard 1/4" scew hole giving you tons of option to mount it anywhere you want.
Then you have the DC coupler or the Dummy battery. The one I am using is for a Canon EOS 550D/T2i but can also be used for 600d, 650D and 700d. But there are other DC couplers you can get for other camera, but the important thing is that it should have the DC female plug end to plug the battery plate cable into.

And ofcourse to power it all you would need a battery. These NP-F970 are currently quite affordable and able to pick up some nice 6600mAh for around 20bucks. But great thing is most lights and monitors use these batteries, so standardising everything to use the same battery is all the better. Then having tons of different kinds of batteries in your bag. Parts list:$14 -SONY F970 Battery Plate adapter$20 - Sony NP-F970 battery 6600mAh

$20 DIY Matte box that hold Cokin P filters

Normally a Matte box that can hold filters will cost you at least more than $100, but we are now showing you how to get it one for even less. Also because a Matte Box is mounted onto your shoulder rig it means you can keep the filters setup on you rig without having to unscrew the filter every time you change lenses. Watch the video below how I show you all the parts needed and what you need to do to modify the affordable Matte box into a professional matte box that would hold filters too.

Another small thing is that a matte box is great to make people know that you are filming with a DSLR. Even though you might have rig, LED light or mic on top of your DSLR, because of the form of a DSLR allot of people still think that you are taking a picture and using a matte box you can hide the DSLR behind it so people don't mistake it.

Another tip for when the flags of the Matte box start to get loose and not hold it place is to put super glue in between the joints and keep moving the flags until its fully dry. What will happen is that the glue will seep into the cracks and close the open space and give more grip to keep the flag in place.

$20 DIY Matte box that hold Cokin P filters

Normally a Matte box that can hold filters will cost you at least more than $100, but we are now showing you how to get it one for even less. Watch the video below how I show you all the parts needed and what you need to do to modify the affordable Matte box into a professional matte box that would hold filters too.

Another tip for when the flags of the Matte box start to get loose and not hold it place is to put super glue in between the joints and keep moving the flags until its fully dry. What will happen is that the glue will seep into the cracks and close the open space and give more grip to keep the flag in place.

$20 DIY Matte box that hold Cokin P filters

New showreel 2012-2014

It took a while to make it two years, because I was too busy actually filming and editing mostly for others. However because I am now back in the Netherlands I need to make my name again as in Hong Kong everybody kinda know how they can hire me to film for them. But being back in Holland, nobody really knows me, so I really needed to update my showreel as the other one is from 2010-2011 which the quality and skills from back then are not quite the same as my current level and if you look at my Youtube showreel list, there is quite the improvements over the years. So here it is below and watch and enjoy!

The video came out quite nice, however there are several jobs or videos I didn't had added. But really cramped as much as possible into this and really was made possible cause of the fast pacing of the song in the middle. But I actually quite fond of this song having slow start and super fast mid and it ends slow too, giving me options of different moods I can set in the time frames. But its mainly to really show future potential clients what you can do and its quite important to really show what you can do. However there seem to be allot of steadicam and timelapse in here, which isn't a bad thing but have to say that is one of the skills I also poses and could use to film an event or something in a more interesting manor. Also now I can clean up the my folders and start saving videos for the next showreel of 2014-2015 and hope to be able to film allot of things in the mean time.

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